1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems, and more particularly to adaptable controls used to control content within computing applications.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
There has recently been a tremendous growth in the number of computers connected to the Internet. A client computer connected to the Internet can download digital information from server computers. Client application software typically accepts commands from a user and obtains data aid services by sending requests to server applications running on the server computers. The Web is an information service on the Internet providing documents and links between documents. It is made up of numerous Web sites located around the world that maintain and distribute electronic documents. A Web site may use one or more Web server computers that store and distribute documents in a number of formats, including the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML).
An intranet is a local area network containing Web servers and client computers operating in a manner similar to the World Wide Web described above. Typically, all of the computers on an intranet are contained within a company or organization. A client computer connected to a network, such as a local area network, wide area network, an intranet, or the Internet, can download digital information from server computers. This digital information can be presented to a user with and executed by a Web browser computing application.
A Web browser is a client application or, preferably, an integrated operating system utility that communicates with server computers via File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Gopher protocols. Web browsers receive content from a server sent over the Internet that is typically encoded in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and executed by the browser on a client computer. Such HTML documents may include scripts (e.g. Java Scripts or Visual Basic Scripts) that allow for some basic flexibility. To go beyond what is possible with HTML and embedded scripts, browsers typically support the usage of additional components such as Java Applets, ActiveX Controls and Plug-Ins that provide extra functionality.
In prior versions of the Web browser computing application, an operator was offered conventional toolbar controls by which he/she could browse the web. These controls provided basic browsing functions such as, navigating between and controlling web pages (i.e. moving back and forth between already browsed web pages, refreshing web pages, stopping the loading of a web page, browsing to xe2x80x9cFavoritexe2x80x9d web pages, loading xe2x80x9cChannelsxe2x80x9d, and viewing browsing history) and controlling the web browser application itself (i.e. resizing the browser, and printing). Such conventional toolbar controls, however, do not afford an operator of the Web browser computing application the ability to navigate directly to a given web page or a set of web pages. Further, existing Web browser toolbars are static and, for the most part, do not provide any additional content that may be of use or interest to an operator of the web browser.
Generally, conventional web browsing applications operate such that they provide a single Web browsing session (i.e. an instance in which a web page may be navigated) when the Web browsing application is launched. Although these web browsers do provide the operator the ability to launch additional web browsers, thereby creating additional Web browsing sessions, the operator is still foreclosed from viewing additional web pages (i.e. web page content) within a singly launched web browser.
There are several advantages in having multiple web browsing sessions within a singly launched Web browser computing application, including, providing operators the ability to view real time updated Web content, affording operators the ability to browse multiple Web pages, and providing Web content providers the ability to integrate their Web content directly with a Web browser application. Such advantages may increase an operator""s browsing efficiency, significantly add value to an operator""s Web browsing experience, and provide an effective marketing tool for Web content providers to showcase their Web content.
Further, in prior versions of Web browser computing applications, the Web browser computing application offered conventional toolbars that generally provided web navigation controls. These toolbars are generally hard-coded within the web browser application yielding toolbars that were static in appearance and, more importantly, in the functionality the toolbar could offer. With static toolbars, an operator of the web browser application is corralled in experiencing a specific set of functions and operations, thereby limiting the overall web-browsing experience. Additionally, as a result of static web browser toolbars, web content providers were foreclosed from updating content within a toolbar to reflect recent changes and/or modifications.
Stated differently, conventional web browsing applications provide an operator with toolbar(s) that perform various functions that range from web navigation (i.e. navigation between web sites and web pages within web sites) to sizing and positioning of the web browser application itself. Web browser toolbars facilitate the use of the Web browser computing application and add value to an operator""s browser experience. Generally however, these toolbars are hard-coded with predetermined values that indicate a toolbar""s look and feel (e.g. size, shape, color, and position) and, more importantly, that describe the functions that the various components of the toolbar perform (e.g. when the xe2x80x9cHistoryxe2x80x9d button of the navigation toolbar is depressed, list a history of the operator""s latest web site(s) and/or web page(s) visited). Although, toolbar values may be updated by modifying the browser application code, such changes require extensive resources (i.e. time and labor) and are extremely impractical. Additionally, such updates generally occur with new releases of the web browser application thereby limiting web content providers to updating toolbar content and/or functionality around such release dates.
It is thus desired to implement a system that would allow for the creation and maintenance of dynamic and updateable computing application panes cooperating with dynamic and updateable toolbars. At the core of this invention that could achieve these advantages is an apparatus and methods that would capitalize on existing computing application technologies.
The present invention applies to computing applications offering a plurality of content controlling features and panes. In an illustrative implementation, the invention is directed to a system for providing multiple instances of Web browsing sessions within a singly launched Web browser computing application. The Web browser computing application may create and control a plurality of Web browsing sessions providing an operator the ability to view and interact with various Web content. In this illustrative implementation, the invention may create operator-defined, content-rich, dynamically-updated xe2x80x9ctoolbarsxe2x80x9d that provide operators the ability to navigate directly to desired web-page(s) and quickly view desired Web content. A new navigation xe2x80x9ctoolbarxe2x80x9d, having buttons with predefined functions, may be integrated within an existing Web browser application such that Web sessions are created with the use of the xe2x80x9ctoolbarxe2x80x9d buttons. These created Web sessions may take the form of additional Web browser computing application panes (Web-in-Web panes) containing updateable Web content. An operator may use such panes to view and interact with various Web content (including navigating to other web pages). These panes may be viewable to the operator regardless of a web browser""s position within a display device.
Further, the present invention is directed to a system for providing dynamic pane generation and configuration between a computing application and a computer server. Wherein upon the launch of the computing application, the computing application communicates with a computer server to retrieve information specific to the creation of a toolbar. This information contains values that define the look and feel of the tool bar, and, more importantly, to define various functions the components of the toolbar perform. The toolbar information on the computer server may be updated periodically to integrate new toolbar functionality and/or to change the look and feel of the toolbar.
Additionally, the operator of these dynamic and updateable computing application panes and toolbars is afforded the ability to customize the content of a toolbar based upon an operator""s preference. Alternatively, an operator may input specific preferences to a computing application that may be communicated to and stored on a computer server housing toolbar information. Through a secondary computing application residing on the computer server, an affinity may be determined between the user""s preferences and the functions offered to the toolbar. This affinity may be used when toolbar information is retrieved from the computer server to create a customized toolbar having an appearance and, more importantly, functions in accordance with the operator""s preferences.